PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[Placebo 29]

Well we're a two PC house so ideally I'd want one that can power 2 x PC & monitor for 5 mins as minimum, or two cheapish ones that can power 1x PC & monitor for 10 mins would also be ok.

[blackdog~ 0]

Hi,

I am looking to - once again - upgrade my dedicated server. While I think I'm getting a grasp on the whole linux situation (I had never used it before when I first got the server - heh) I am now kind of out of the hardware loop... so... I'm coming to you guys for help. Here's what I'm looking to have the server run.

- Ventrilo Server

- OFP/ArmA Server (24 players maybe)

- Web Server (it will have about three mySQL-php based forums which get about 100 posts per day between them all and also file downloads and image hosting and that kind of thing)

Here are my choices in server (all have 1500gb of bandwidth @ 10mbps - I have also included the monthly $25.00 fee for cPanel which I love dearly into the monthly price on the packages below):

# AMD 64 Athlon 4000+

# 160GB Hard Drive OR 36GB SCSI Hard Drive

# 1024MB RAM

# $154/mo

# AMD Single CPU Dual Core Athlon 3800 (Is this 64bit?)

# 160GB Hard Drive

# 1024MB RAM

# $154/mo

# Intel Pentium 4 3GHz (HT)

# 80GB Hard Drive

# 1024MB RAM

# $134/mo

# Intel Pentium 4 3.4Ghz

# 2 x 80GB Hard Drive

# 1024MB RAM

# $154/mo

# Intel P4 2.8 Dual Core 920

# 160GB SATA Hard Drive

# 1024MB RAM

# $154/mo

Here are the different Linux flavors I have to choose from:

CentOS 4.x X86_64 Bit

FreeBSD 5.X X86_64 Bit

OpenBSD 3.X X86_64 Bit

FreeBSD 4.X

FreeBSD 5.X

FreeBSD 6.X

Fedora Core 4

Fedora Core 5

Debian Stable

CentOS 4.x

OpenBSD 3.X

NetBSD 3.X

CentOS 3.x

CentOS 3.x X86_64 Bit

NetBSD 3.x X86_64 Bit

FreeBSD 6.x X86_64 Bit

I would consider upgrading this if it was needed - BUT I am trying desperately to stay under $160.00 a month. So the RAM upgrades for the $154 servers above are not an option.

# Uplink speed from 10mbps to 100mbps

# $10/mo

# RAM Upgrade from 1024 to 1536 or 2048

# 1536 - $15/mo

# 2048 - $25/mo

Q: Can I run all of the normal things that I usually run on a 32bit Linux server on a 64bit Linux server? What problems might I encounter?

And also, for what it's worth, the server I currently have has these specs:

# Intel P4 2.8GHZ

# 160GB ATA HD

# 2048GB RAM

It is $124.00/mo.

I am using LayeredTech. I have been with them for about two years now I think. Before LT I was with EV1 who gave me an ancient version of RedHat in like 2003 I think it was (which is why I dumped them). If anyone has any other suggestions of Texas dedicated server hosting companies, please let me know.

Thanks,

Brian

Moderators - if this is better suited for the PC discussion thread please go ahead and merge it with that thread...

[crashdome 3]

Anyone in here get their hands on a new Intel Core 2 yet?

I have yet to see a bad review about it. Everyone says it's the greatest thing since someone invented the wheel.

It's about the time everyone is upgrading and this thing went in-out of stock so fast the distributors probably never even saw them! Anyways, I want to get my hands on one when availability stabilizes, but it seems like the xbox 360 all over again (which I ended up never buying one).

I probably won't upgrade for another month atleast (if I do). Are these things really as good as all the people confess?

[blackdog~ 0]

Hi CrashDome,

I have been hearing the same thing, I have decided to build a server computer by myself with a Core2Duo in it. It will then be colocated.

[crashdome 3]

Hi CrashDome,

I have been hearing the same thing, I have decided to build a server computer by myself with a Core2Duo in it. It will then be colocated.

Will probably be cheaper and more effective in the long-run for you especially with ArmA.

I've seen the benchmarks on Tom's Hardware and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed. I wish I could replace ALL my machines with this bad-boy.... even if it was the E6300 on my lower-end machines, that would be like a 300% improvement for most of em

I'd have to dump and replace all mobos and memory though and thats not an option

[scary 0]

According to the system requirements on the wiki my laptop is fine on the processor and more than adequate on system RAM for playing ArmA, but only has 64MB on the graphics card.

Now, I don't particularly want to spend 4 figures on a new machine for the sake of a few MB of video RAM so was wondering, is there any reasonably practicable way of upgrading a laptop's graphics card or even just its RAM?

It would be so much easier if they were made with a graphics card slot like the HD's.

[j w 0]

How the heck do I link images so they get displayed in FireFox?

The browser says it's the wrong pathway...

How am I supposed to do??

in the index.html:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"><img src="intro.gif" widht="500" height="354">

Doesn't work

P.S. And yeah, the pic is in the same folder as index.html, firstly I had it in another folder (\img), didn't work then either...

[chipper 0]

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"><img src="intro.gif" widht="500" height="354">

Ehh try.

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"><img src="intro.gif" widht="500" height="354" />

[j w 0]

Didn't work

[chipper 0]

Hmm btw it might be that width is spelled wrong.

[j w 0]

doesn't work any way around

[chipper 0]

Hey anyone know what to do? I have viruses on my computer that are disabling my virus protection and when I do a scan it takes 7 hours but doesn't allow me to delete any of the found viruses!    

and jw try downloading this

http://www.download.com/CoffeeC....98.html

[VictorTroska 0]

Hey anyone know what to do? I have viruses on my computer that are disabling my virus protection and when I do a scan it takes 7 hours but doesn't allow me to delete any of the found viruses!    

1.)What anti-virus are u using?

2.)If u have illegal copy of protection,when u update -automatically your protection is off (exp. Norton 2006 products)...which is not your case,right?  

3.)Try unistalling antivir and install it again

4.) Get yourself Kaspersky 6.0 or bitdefender 9 and do rescan-im sure that u will be able to erase much more viruses or spyware,adware then now...

5.) ...and use separate firewall..i recommend ZoneAlarm Pro

[chipper 0]

I think I got it. I installed McAfee and it clean the bad stuff out but I still think that viruses are on my computer because I can't enable active protection on the McAfee firewall or virus scanner.

It might be caused because I'm also running Zone Alarm Security Suite that also has a firewall and virus scan?

[VictorTroska 0]

I think I got it. I installed McAfee and it clean the bad stuff out but I still think that viruses are on my computer because I can't enable active protection on the McAfee firewall or virus scanner.

It might be caused because I'm also running Zone Alarm Security Suite that also has a firewall and virus scan?

Listen,its always preferable to have just one antivirus,firewall protection on your computer-in your case antivirus suite....so i recommend to use only one suite or single antivirus and firewall.

[earl 0]

Just pricing some new motherboards, but can anyone clarify some important differences between the latest intel chipsets? I'm looking at ASUS boards that use 975X, 955X, 965P because I want something to support Core 2 Duo processor, and I like the passive cooling, and in general i like ASUS.

[earl 0]

I'd want one that can power 2 x PC & monitor for 5 mins as minimum

I used to have an APC Back-UPS LS 700. APC has a good reputation. http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BP700UC&total_watts=200

Look for something around 750-1000 VA to run two PCs (especially if you want to keep CRT monitors running for 5min or more). You can get away with less batter capacity if you leave the monitors off battery, and just wait for power to be restored so you can continue working.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Ok if someone knows whats going on please help me:

Some time ago 'something' happened to my PC, after some testing i found out that at least the mobo and CPU had died, and i was unable to test the ram/videocard

So i bought a new Asus A8R-MVP mobo and a X2 4200+, put everything back together and tried to boot:

I get 1 long beep, and 3 short ones. So i look it up in the manual and it only talks about

1 beep

2 continous followed by 2 short beeps

2 continous followed by 4 short beeps

I get no screen at all, it doesnt even seem like the monitor detects my PC

I already tried swapping out the ram with this PC, I looked if there was something between the mobo and the case and did the jumper thing but it doesnt seem to have any effect

EDIT: now i also get a few (2, 3 or 4) very short beeps very fast after eachother

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Try clearing the CMOS. You sould have instructions on how to do it in the instruction manual, it's usually a matter of switching a jumper for a few minutes.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Try clearing the CMOS. You sould have instructions on how to do it in the instruction manual, it's usually a matter of switching a jumper for a few minutes.

Already tried it it (I called it 'the jumper thing' in my last post)  

EDIT: Well, i dont know what was going on but it works now. I left it running even though i had no screen, then i suddenly noticed that my HD was making some noise, a sign that it was booting XP. So i decided to check if i was able to control the PC by turning it off with the keyboard (windows button->U->U to shut it down on a dutch XP version) and it worked. After booting again everything suddenly worked!

[denoir 0]

Just pricing some new motherboards, but can anyone clarify some important differences between the latest intel chipsets? I'm looking at ASUS boards that use 975X, 955X, 965P because I want something to support Core 2 Duo processor, and I like the passive cooling, and in general i like ASUS.

955X doesn't support Core 2 Duo. 975X is an older chipset that does. The Asus version has the ICH7 southbridge. The 965 is the newest chipset, recommended by Intel and it has an ICH8 southbridge, meaning among other things more SATA ports. Benchmarks have shown the 975X to be the fastest (although not by much) one, but you can probably expect bios updates to the 965 that will probably improve speed.

For benchmarks of Conroe compatible motherboards see:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797

[berghoff 11]

Just liked to tell you all:

Quote[/b] ]

The Academy Award® winning Autodesk® Maya® software is a powerful, integrated 3D modeling, animation, and rendering solution based upon an open architecture.

Maya is used by film and video artists, game developers, multimedia designers (both print and web), design visualization professionals, and 3D enthusiasts to create engaging, lifelike digital images; realistic animation; and extraordinary visual effects.

Is it fake or is it real?

A cool challenge, I got 6/10. (You choose if it's a photograph or ComputerGraphics/CG)

Quote[/b] ]The Challenge Results

Excellent, a superior performance--ten out of ten answers were correct.

If you got a perfect score on the first try then you're a REAL genius. But, if it took a few tries, then we congratulate you on your perseverance for it shows the CG artists are keeping you guessing. Now check out the bonus round -- if you dare!

2 pics were hard to see.

[denoir 0]

Thought I would give myself a treat in the form of a new comp.

Most of the parts:

The disks (1x150 GB WD Raptor, 4x320GB Seagate 7200.10). The raptor serves as a system/application disk, three of the 320's are in a Raid-0 array and the last 320 is for data that I don't want to lose:

Asus P5B Deluxe (965 chipset):

4 GB Corsair PC6400 memory:

Antec P180 case:

And the piÄce de résistance, an Intel Celeron 2.53 GHz!

Actually, it's a placeholder CPU until I get my Core 2 Duo E6700, which should hopefully come next week.

System specs:

CPU: Intel Celeron 2.53 GHz (will be replaced with a E6700 conroe)

Motherboard: Asus P5B Deluxe 965 chipset

Memory: 4 GB PC6400 (800 Mhz)

Disks: 1.4 TB (150 GB Raptor, 4x320 GB Seagate 7200.10)

Graphics: Asus 7900GTX

Sound: Soundblastr X-Fi Pro Elite

And some other minor junk like  Logitech MX3000 keyboard, Logitech G7 mouse, a dvd writer etc

Next..assembling the bastard.

[denoir 0]

Ok, first the case. There is a slight problem with it - for sound proofing and thermal flow it is divided into two sections, one with the PSU (at the bottom of the case) and four disks and one where the motherboard and the rest of the stuff goes. Good idea in theory, but not very practical as you have to thread the PSU power cables through a tiny hole:

That will be a problem later. But for now the disks in their cages.

The graphics board installed on the motherboard. It can't be described as anything else but "massive". That thing is huge - it takes up more than two standard PCI spaces and thus blocking off two of the three PCI slots on the motherboard.

This is somewhat of a problem as it leaves only one left for the soundblaster and it's right next to that tiny hole for the PSU power cables:

The problem becomes very apparent when the PSU is installed:

Then of course it doesn't help if you install the PSU upside-down. Doh!:

After re-doing the wiring all over again with the PSU in the right direction, the system is running:

Notice the tight fit of the soundblaster card. To make things worse, all chassis, USB and firewire connector ports are in that place as well. I actually had to bend one of the capacitors on the sound board to make space for an USB connector!

However everything is running fine and with the fans set at the lowest speed it is almost completely silent. The temperature isn't great, but well within tolerable limits. And once I install the real CPU it should go down some as it is much cooler than the temporary one.

[earl 0]

Thanks Denoir, exactly what I needed to know.  On first sight, I just sorted the chipsets by number and thought the highest was newest :-P  965 it is then.  Actually your setup is very similar to the list I've written up, although I prefer to buy a few degrees behind the cutting edge.  I'm also interested in making a system that is as energy efficient as reasonably possible (fanless mobo, Core2duo, only 1 or 2 HDDs).

Intel Core2duo E6400

ASUS P5B Deluxe - I'm sold on the P965, and onboard wifi is convenient.

Corsair TwinX DDR2 pair - 2GB total

Antec Sonata - old, but replace PS with Antec NeoHE 380 or 430W.

GeForce 7600GT - affordable, what I save now compared to a 7900GTX will buy something much better in a year, hopefully it will still be PCI-E.

I'm not totally sure about HDDs yet, I don't need massive storage space but data access speed is probably the most important upgrade i can make.  I want a fast primary drive, but I need a second one for an efficient photoshop scratch disk.  Maybe two WD Raptor 75GBs.  Expensive!

edit: What about RAM? I can't quite figure out what the deal is with all the different versions of DDR2-6400 RAM, and the latency numbers. I don't want to overclock, I just want efficient, stable RAM that will run well with my mobo at 800MHz. Probably just 2GB for now.